Returning strictly due to Sprint's horrible data speeds

Are he data issues with Sprint enough to make you jump ship?


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Interesting, thanks for the info. I didn't realize that Sprint's recent CDMA radios also supported Rev B. I sure hope they do that, would definitely keep me on Sprint - but somehow I doubt it. I remember back years ago (like 2005'ish) when EVDO first came onto the scene and it was widely thought that all the CDMA carriers would quickly jump right up to Rev B. (rev B also supports simultaneous voice/data I think..) Obviously that never happened. In fact, are there any CDMA networks anywhere in the world that are operating EVDO Rev B? Maybe Korea??

The problem with LTE is the same beef I have with Wimax, which is that it requires a separate radio. Battery life is always tenuous on modern smartphones, and the thought of having a 2nd cellular radio on all the time just bothers me. Especially a radio that is as power hungry as Wimax or LTE. That's why I like HSPA: decent data speeds, simultaneous voice/data, and all on the same radio. Someday when LTE is everywhere then it won't matter since we'll be doing voip on LTE, but that "someday" is a long way off methinks.

There are CDMA networks in Pakistan that support Rev. B. The problem is the overall spectral efficiency doesn't go up all that much. Rev. B is kind of like Dual Carrier HSPA+ - taking two 5 MHz carriers (in the case of HSPA+) and using them as a single channel. The overall bandwidth for the sector is shown to go up somewhat and on an unloaded network a single user would notice higher (or much higher) speeds but the bandwidth is only going up somewhat.

Imagine this situation: an EVDO-A provider has a block of spectrum from 2000 MHz to 2005 MHz (for the downlink). Each individual tower has carriers at 2000.0 MHz, 2001.25 MHz, 2002.50 MHz, and 2003.75 MHz. There happen to be four users on that tower, user 1 is assigned the 2000.0 MHz carrier (which is the spectrum from 2000.0 to 2001.25 MHz, and ignoring guard bands) user 2 the 2001.25 MHz carrier and so on. Those four users would each see (given a good radio environment) theoretical speeds of 3.1 Mbps (minus overhead).

If there were only one user on the tower, he would still see a maximum of 3.1 Mbps - he can only use the one carrier.

If there were 40 users on the tower, they'd each see (presuming they're all using it at the same time the same way and have equal radio environments) 310 kbps and if there are 400 users on the tower (this is statistically pretty close to reality) it'd be 31 kbps per user if they're all using it at the same time.

Ok, so that's our situation: 400 users per tower, 5 MHz spectrum that's being used by 4x 1.25 MHz carriers when fully loaded would see 31 kbps per user.

If that service provider decided to upgrade to EVDO-B the situation changes a little. Those carriers (2000, 2001.25, 2002.5, 2003.75 Mhz) get bonded and users that sign into the tower are assigned all to the single bonded channel (they're still separate carriers but the single user data streams are multiplexed across all of the carriers). So now rather than the one tower (or rather, one sector) having 4x 3.1mbps channels it's got 1x 12.4 mbps channel. For those same 400 users (again, if they're all active) there's no improvement - 12.4 mbps / 400 users = 0.031 mbps / user, just like EVDO-A above.

That's not completely the case, each carrier on EVDO-B has a somewhat higher data rate of 4.9 Mbps in optimal conditions so it's really more like 19.6 Mbps/400 users = 0.049 mbps/user and the overhead per bit of the wider channel is lower so there is another improvement there.

The gain on an unloaded tower would be great - a single user would see 19.6 Mbps maximum instead of 3.1 Mbps maximum, the problem is that the situation you're trying to resolve by going to EVDO-B is a overall sector capacity problem, not a single user capacity problem, and it's not all that much improvement.

That's not saying there would be no improvement, but it wouldn't be the 3.1 to 19.6 factor that some people might be expecting.
 
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That's not saying there would be no improvement, but it wouldn't be the 3.1 to 19.6 factor that some people might be expecting.

Soooooo .... what your saying is I need my own personal cell tower that only I can connect to and that follows me wherever I go. I'm gonna call Sprint right now. :p
 
Soooooo .... what your saying is I need my own personal cell tower that only I can connect to and that follows me wherever I go. I'm gonna call Sprint right now. :p

That is sort of what's being recommended down the road, a very large number of very small cells (LTE had this vision of using LTE for the small-cell to big-cell backhaul as well as using it for UE-to-small-cell communication). Presumably with highly directional signals.
 
I picked up my kid from school. Normally with Verizon I have painful data. At school, I have painfully slow data in the trough. I used my Sprint service and guess what? Fast data. It was so nice to browse AC in real time. Thanks Sprint service for not sucking. I thought if VZW had bad data there then everyone else had none . I was brainwashed by the red devil lmfao!:p
 
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Sprint sucks for speed period, I am not leaving them just for that but I am also not going to sit here and say they are FAST. They are not but I am OK with their speed after all you get what you pay for. Maybe when they upgrade to LTE it'll make a difference but by then who knows where the competition will be. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
 
Obviously it doesn't perform that poorly everywhere.

no it is "ok" and will get thru a bit of Netflix or YouTube videos where i'm traveling now in GA and VA but in my home area - where i bought the phone - everyone in that area I know has horribly slow service and I can't see how they can walk into the sprint store and sign and keep a smart phone on contract 2 yrs , i've known some people that have told me they don't like their Evo and want to get an iPhone as their Evo is so slow, because they live in my area and now i am trying a Spring GS2, i see that the network is slower than i could have ever imagined (in 2011 again for $129 per month!) in this area

for all i know verizon is this slow in many areas as well , no idea , i only figured that at least all of the major providers just so you could get a signal would at least be above 500 kbps ....
 
Sprint sucks for speed period, I am not leaving them just for that but I am also not going to sit here and say they are FAST. They are not but I am OK with their speed after all you get what you pay for. Maybe when they upgrade to LTE it'll make a difference but by then who knows where the competition will be. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

To be fair, they have ended up in the back of the speed pack with the last 2 years. There were plenty of tests before that time that put them at the fastest in many markets. Things change.
 
I picked up my kid from school. Normally with Verizon I have painful data. At school, I have painfully slow data in the trough. I used my Sprint service and guess what? Fast data. It was so nice to browse AC in real time. Thanks Sprint service for not sucking. I thought if VZW had bad data there then everyone else had none . I was brainwashed by the red devil lmfao!:p

How many holsters do you have attached to your waist? :p
 
Just ran two speed tests at my desk at work.

Test 1: 124kbps Down, 225 up
Test 2: 180 down, 99 up

Turned my 4G on

Test: 14,338 kbps down, 1,455 up

lulz
 
Lets see more screenshots from around the country running on Sprint's 3G everybody

Sent from my Sprint Eptouch 4G
 
No problems here. Happy Sprint user. My house is in a bad signal area so they gave me the indoor cell tower thingy for free with no charges at all! So I use wifi and have full cell bars anywhere in my house.
But I notice the WiFi signal is lower than my Palm Pre's. I wonder if that can be fixed via and update.
 
I don't have an Epic 4G Touch but I did take a screen cap of my speed test results from my MoPho. This was taken while in Trenton, NJ (closest server was Seyerville apparently) at work but I've had better results in Philadelphia where I live and can do a test when I get home.
 
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I don't think that toast site is working for me. I know my 4g is fast but not that fast. 3g seems to work ok though as does wifi. Anyone else seen it do this???

Oh and I have cleared cache and history and pretty much everything but it still gets the same results
 
I don't think that toast site is working for me. I know my 4g is fast but not that fast. 3g seems to work ok though as does wifi. Anyone else seen it do this???

Oh and I have cleared cache and history and pretty much everything but it still gets the same results

Yeah the performance.toast site showed me some impressive numbers that just didn't seem to match my real life experience. Don't know why?
 
Yeah the performance.toast site showed me some impressive numbers that just didn't seem to match my real life experience. Don't know why?

I wish I was getting a 120 down but sadly I know thats not true. I do get about a 10th of that though so I am still happy, but that site is jacked.

Cory, You got any idea? I have tried multiple server and all net the same result.
 
I wish I was getting a 120 down but sadly I know thats not true. I do get about a 10th of that though so I am still happy, but that site is jacked.

Cory, You got any idea? I have tried multiple server and all net the same result.



On WiFi the Eptouch is a monster. It consistently pulls better scores than my iP4, so I know the device is more than capable. Sucks to be hindered by awful data on such a monstrous device.
 
All 3g speeds no 4g in Phoenix,although the reps at sprint have been telling me its comming next month for the past year.
 

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